Over the weekend I had a party at my house. Since it had been about nine years since we’d had a party in our house, I felt like we were long overdue. Of course now that I’m older I wanted less of a party and more of a structured evening with adult friends who are fun to be around. So that’s how Game Night came to be.

We played Cards Against Humanity which is just like Apples to Apples, but with a bit more pop culture and adult cards added to the mix. There was lots of food and booze and no one spilled anything on my almost white carpet.

I made caprese salad bites because I saw them on Pinterest and thought they would appeal to the masses. I was right.

I also made some stuff called Cowboy Caviar. Now I read a lot of different recipes for this and each one was a little bit different. In the end I made up my own based off of the foods that my husband loves. So here’s the recipe:

Cowboy Caviar

2 cans of black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1 small red onion, diced

1 can corn, drained

1 can rotel, drained

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Put all of that in a bowl with some salt and pepper and let it hang out while you make your dressing.

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

2 tbl lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

Mix those four ingredients together and then bring them to a boil for a minute or so. Just long enough for the sugar to dissolve. Once it cools completely pour it over your salad and serve.

Call me an idiot, but I forgot to eat any food the whole time. I did not, however, forget to have drinks. The Adult Arnold Palmers were the cocktail of choice for the night. (half Simply Lemonade and half sweet tea vodka)

I made each guest a mixtape cd and we did a drawing for a door prize. But the best part of the night were my friends. We had a great time and lots of laughs. Even if it did get a little inappropriate at the end of the evening. Oh who am I kidding? Inappropriate is what we do best.

I wish I had taken more photos, but sometimes you just have to be in the moment instead of trying to capture the moment. They were great moments though and I can’t wait for the next Game Night.

It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since we jetted off to Las Vegas to get married. It’s also hard to believe that it took us seven years to get to that point. I’ve now spent a third of my life with you.

Sometimes we are silly.

Sometimes we are sweet.

Sometimes we’re just plain weird.

But usually we’re just us.

I love you baby. Happy Anniversary.

You are my baby sister. You are my best friend. You are a fierce recommender. You make me laugh. You make me cry. You make me want to be a better person.

We didn’t always get along. We still bicker and fight and chase each other around. We still don’t see eye to eye on everything.

You have the better hair and the bigger savings account. You have more patience and understanding.

You’re generous and thoughtful and you make everyone better for having known you.

Happy Birthday Kiddo. Thanks for being born.

And I can’t believe that of the 100+ photos Thom took, there wasn’t a single one of us together.

It’s hard to believe that my sweet baby girl* is now sixteen. I remember the day she was born. I was seventeen years old and a senior in high school. I was in Stillwater at a singing competition of some sort. I was hoping she would arrive as a Matthew, but instead she arrived as a Laura. And thank goodness she did! I can’t imagine my life without her.

Happy Sweet 16 girl. (whose birthday was actually last Monday, but since we just had your party over the weekend, I’m posting this now)

*By sweet baby girl, I don’t mean she actually belongs to me. She’s my cousin, lest you think I was knocked up in high school.

My weekend, in photos (and video)

It was a perfect weekend.

Last night I helped throw my sister a surprise 30th birthday celebration at her favorite restaurant. Her best friends really stepped up to the plate and made awesome fans with her face on them. On the backs they wrote “I’m a fan of Dawn”. It was kind of awesome.

She was totally surprised and it was a really fun evening. I love my sister.

You can view the entire set of photos here.

And you can read an even better post about this over at her BFF’s blog.